Men and women experience illness differently — scientists say why

A new, large-scale, international study has revealed significant biological nuances that explain why men and women react differently to disease. Scientists from the University of London found that, although there are many differences in blood protein levels between men and women, most of them are not directly related to genetics.

This finding is described in an article by SciTech Daily.

Scientists conducted a large-scale research

The study analyzed more than 6,000 different proteins circulating in the blood and assessed their relationship to hundreds of diseases. A total of 56,000 men and women took part in the project, based on data from the British Biobank and the Fenland Study. The analysis revealed that the levels of two-thirds of the proteins were significantly different depending on gender. However, only about 100 of these proteins were regulated differently by genetic mechanisms; the rest were caused by nonmedical or hormonal factors.

Why is the latest research important for doctors and pharmacists?

This result is fundamentally changing the way drugs are developed. According to Professor Claudia Langenberg, Director of PHURI at Queen Mary University of London and Professor of Computational Medicine at Charité, information about proteins has become the basis for these new approaches.

This discovery confirms that precision medicine should consider a broader range of factors instead of reducing sex differences to chromosomes or genes.

Which factors have not been considered in previous research?

Mine Koprulu, the lead author of the study, notes that this work opens the door to a more equitable healthcare model. Diagnoses and treatments will consider not only biological characteristics, but also social circumstances such as place of residence, access to healthcare, level of education, financial stability, and lifestyle.

The study clearly states that hormones, daily activities, nutrition, stress levels, and other non-genetic factors can significantly affect symptom manifestation and disease progression. Scientists emphasize that new approaches to medicine should be gender-sensitive but should not be confused with a purely chromosomal definition. At the same time, the authors acknowledge that the study was conducted using a classification of participants as either male or female based on biological sex (XX or XY) because there was no reliable data on gender identity in the studied databases.

The findings of this study, published in the journal Nature Communications, could have significant long-term implications for medicine, pharmacology, and public health policy. Specifically, the findings highlight the necessity of a more inclusive approach to medical research and treatment strategy development.

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